ARTS NOTES

SCR scores in Manhattan

At the rate it's harvesting fruit from South Coast Repertory's new-play orchard, the Manhattan Theatre Club may have to change its name to the Costa Mesa Theatre Club.

Two plays that South Coast commissioned and premiered -- Richard Greenberg's "The Violet Hour" (2002) and Donald Margulies' "Sight Unseen" (1991) -- are headed to Broadway next season under the auspices of MTC.

"The Violet Hour," a New York story set in 1919, will open the nonprofit Theatre Club's new venue, the Biltmore Theatre, in October. "Sight Unseen" also will have its Broadway premiere at the 650-seat Biltmore; it played on the Manhattan Theatre Club's off-Broadway stage in 1992 after the initial run at South Coast.

Currently on stage at the Manhattan Theatre Club's off-Broadway venue? Why, it's David Lindsay-Abaire's "Kimberly Akimbo." South Coast commissioned it and staged that play's premiere in 2001.